This blog has become a sort of personal-cum-public diary. As for its contents, some are meant for me and my friends and relatives; others are for the public. This blog will have only positive, ennobling, elevating, encouraging and uplifting thoughts/ideas/materials. Whoever visits should feel happy and should be able to pick up some good ideas/thoughts/links. In short, "NOTHING NEGATIVE" is my motto.(Grateful thanks to Jon Sullivan and Public-Domain-Photos.com for the background photo)

Happy New Year 2015

WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY, HEALTHY,
PROSPEROUS AND PURPOSEFUL
NEW YEAR 2015

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I am reproducing below a mail received from TED Curator, Chris Anderson, about TED 2011: The Rediscovery of Wonder for the benefit of all:

Dear TED Member,

We're delighted to announce that registration for TED2011 is open. As an existing member of the TED community, you have a chance to sign up ahead of the crowd! Simply sign in, complete the form and submit. Our system should have remembered the prior details we have on record for you so hopefully it won't take too long. Even though we expect, as in prior years, to be oversubscribed within a few days, all applications received by noon (US Eastern time) Thursday February 4th will be granted equal consideration.

TED2011 will be held once again in Long Beach, and runs Feb 28-March 4, 2001. (By popular demand, we're moving one day earlier in the week to a Monday-Friday format.)

Next year's theme takes us right to the core what so many people love about their TED experience: "The Rediscovery of Wonder". Breathtaking scientific discovery and mind-bending creativity will be on display as never before.

The conference fee has been at $6,000 for the past two years (of which $2k covers core costs and $4k is considered a donation to TED), and despite being massively oversold, we've decided to keep this price tier available for a third year, because we're aware that in the current economy many of our favorite TEDsters have to stretch to pay to come to TED. But if you can afford it, we do invite you to consider applying for Donor status. In addition to the extra privileges that come with the different color on your badge, $10k of your $12k fee is treated as a donation, and you'll therefore be making a spectacular contribution to spreading knowledge, insight and inspiration around the world. If you can't afford $12k, there is also an opportunity on the page to add a smaller amount on top of the $6k floor.

Whatever your level of contribution, in order to make your donation more meaningful, we'd like to give you a chance to specify which element of our work you'd most like to support. So on the reg page you'll be given the chance to select one of the following:

TED discretionary. You allow us to make use of the donation as most needed

TED Prize. Your donation goes toward one of the TED prize projects (you can specify which one, or - if you're willing - leave it up to us.) These are all initiatives in which any money you put in is massively leveraged by the efforts of the many collaborators working on each wish.

TED Talks distribution. Your donation supports the global distribution of TED talks online. Adding in all costs, each talk costs around 4 cents per view, so a basic $4k donation would literally allow 100,000 people to see a TED talk.

The Open Translation Project. Although the start-up costs were covered by Nokia, we have ambitious expansion plans for this project which is already enabling more than 2000 volunteer translators to bring TED to their local communities.

TED Fellows. This program is allowing 40 fellows and 15 senior fellows to be part of the TED community every year, significantly empowering a new generation of worldchanging talent.

TED to the developing world. We're now launching initiatives (involving DVDs, cell phones, TV, radio) to more effectively distribute talks in the developing world where internet access is limited.

TEDx Program. Thrillingly, hundreds of grass-roots organizers around the world are putting on independent TED-like events, many of which are of astounding quality, attracting amazing speakers new to TED. We would like to raise funding to better capture these events on video so that we can bring the best talks to TED.com.

Anyone at TED Donor level will be recognized on the website as a supporter of one of these initiatives. But more importantly still we just want you to understand that your money is being put to very good use. Without these contributions, TED could never have built these programs. And it's a remarkable thing that a single conference, backed by your support, is impacting the lives of literally millions around the world.

Therefore, finally, I just want to say -- and I really want you to hear me -- THANK YOU. Not a day goes by where we're not awed by the amazing group of people who make up the TED community.

We will process applications as fast as we can, though some will have to wait till after we get back from TED2010. The sooner you apply, the sooner yours will be processed, and all applications received by February 4th will get a response by February 25th.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Read two chapters from the book, “A Better India, A Better World” by N.R.Narayana Murty. The first one is “Succeeding in the Contemporary World”, commencement address delivered by him at INSEAD, Fontainbleau, France, on December 18, 2008 and the second, “Succeeding in a Globalized Corporation”, convocation address delivered by him at IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain on May 9, 2008. Clarity of thought and beautiful style mark both the addresses. My admiration for him keeps on growing. India needs more Narayana Murtys. May God bless him!

First one deals with globalization, global warming and laissex-faire capitalism and the second is full of best advice for the youth.

After coffee, switched on my PC and opened my mailbox. From the mailbox, a few selected highlights:

First, American Scientist E-Newsletter of Jan 20, 2010:

Bisphenol A or simply BPA used to line cans of most food and beverages could be dangerous. It has been found in the urine of 93% Americans tested! It could affect brain and behaviour. The chemical’s link to breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and reproductive failures. The Food and Drug Administration of USA find themselves powerless to regulate BPA because of a quirk in rules. For the detailed article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/81901927.html

Second, The Robin Sharma Report Newsletter:

He calls 2010 as the Decade of Leadership and says anyone can lead in 2010. The next part is 21 Ways to make 2010 Your Best Year yet. Next come, “Monthly Big Ideas on Leadership” and “What is New at Robin Sharma Leadership International”. All very inspiring and interesting. To read them, you will have to go to robinsharma.com and subscribe to his newsletter. As I have said elsewhere, he is one of my heroes. May God bless him!

Third, Earth Science Picture of the Day:

Phil Dombrowski came upon a dinosaur track in Berlin, Connecticut, which has photographed. It also has a summary from him. If you are interested:http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2010/01/dinosaur-track-in-berlin-connecticut.html

Fourth, BloomingWriter:

This email update is from jodi DeLong, Canning, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is, in her own words: “a writer, editor, photographer, word nerd and very compulsive gardener in Nova Scotia” Cats, Books and Plants, as she calls them, her three bad habits. Her blog is lively and interesting. You can see for yourself:http://bloomingwriter.blogspot.com

Read a chapter from “Thousand Windows” by Sathguru Jaggi Vasudev and “Lessons from Experience” by Sudha Murty of Infosys Foundation, both in Tamil.

10 am to 12 noon – Power Cut.

Sudoku.

Read a chapter from The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Gandhiji and Talks on the Gita by Vinobaji. Gandhiji freely and frankly talks about His Experiements in Dietetics while he was a student in England. Vinobaji discusses “Swadharma” in detail.

In the afternoon watched TV. Saw ‘Tiruppavai”, a Tamil serial.

After lunch, rest.

Afternoon nap.

Read some pages from “Food and Beverages”, a Tamil book, based on Ayurveda, by Si.Ve.Radhakrishna Sastri. Picked up many useful info. I have the third edition published in 2000 by VKN Enterprises, Chennai and it is priced at Rs.48/-.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

January 20, 2010, Wednesday. Due to frequent disturbance in sleep, could get up only around 6 a.m. Eagerly await the arrival of summer.

After morning coffee, switched on my PC. Opened my mailbox.

First, an email alert from Library@KVPattom:

I have been a subscriber to the Email Alert Service of Kendriya Vidyalaya Library, Pattom, Kerala (They also provide SMS Alert!). I have never been a student of KV; but both my kids were KV students. Further, when I visited their blog, I was so much impressed, I signed their email alert service. A school in India running a wonderful blog, which contains a lot of useful services for the students and is updated regularly (Unlike some government portals which are updated once in six months or a year or sometimes never, with the result you see the names of retired and dead persons still on roll! Service-orientation is an uknown thing to these govt portals) is something very novel.

The first thing that caught my eye in the blog was the list of New Arrivals. They have a very good collection of books and keep on adding to them. They display the cover page of recent additions of books and journals.

They welcome the visitors in a very friendly way to get a complete picture of all offline and online sources and services from the Library. It is all very impressive and one should be really lucky to have been a student of KV, Pattom!

Then I saw I was visitor number 619,095! So popular a blog!

Next there was the Online Network of Library – LIBRARY JUNCTION.

They have sample question papers for Classes X and XII on their downloads page, in addition to Question Banks.

They have Tutorials for different subjects.

Their index page gives you an idea of what you can see from the archives. For example, they have Karan Thapar Interviews. You have Links to useful portals like NASA videos, Aids to Netsearch, Educational Portals, Libraries Online, Online TV. Ebooks and Ejournals.

Mr.S.L.Faisal is the Librarian. Kudos to him and the school authorities for their exemplary service. One wishes that other schools and colleges emulate them and provide such commendable services to their students.

You can take a look at the blog for yourself:http://librarykvpattom.wordpress.com

Second, Harper’s Weekly Review of January 19, 2010:

The one item that impressed me from this weekly review has been:

Scientists find that watching four hours of television a day raises the risk of fatal heart disease by 80 percent.

Third, the official newsletter of Jan 20, 2010 from Sierra Club, devoted to exploring, enjoying and protecting the planet:

It links to an interesting article assessing the first 365 days of Obama in office and how much of his clean-energy agenda he has been able to accomplish from San Jose Mercury News by Paul Rogers and an entry in Sierra Club blog by Carl Pope, Sierra Club’s Executive Director ((http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_14218053?nclick_check=1)http://sierraclub.typepad.com/carlpope/2010/01/the-invisible-environmental-president.html). The Paul Rogers article lists specific achievements. The conclusion is Obama Administration has undone many damages of the past eight years and and the best year on the environment by any President. Highlight was the announcement of the Obama Admn of Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits of $2.3 billion to 183 clean-energy manufacturing projects. Great!

Fourth, Botany Photo of the day from Daniel Mosquin, University of British Columbia:

Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia. The January 19, 2010 photo is Coryphantha scheeri var. robustispina. (http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2010/01/coryphantha_scheeri_var_robustispina.php). A write-up of useful info about this rare plant.

Fifth, Internet Evolution Update Newsletter from United Business Media, New York:

The link provided to an article by Tom Nolle, software engineer and founder of CIMI Corp., on “How Gadgets could change the Internet” interested me. It discusses how the increasing number of wireless and personal gadgets like smart phones and ebook readers are replacing browsers for Internet access, and their repercussions. ( http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?doc_id=186829&f_src=ieupdate)

Sixth, email from Sasha Xarrian ( sashax@outrageousmastery.com) :

I got some interesting statistics from the mail:

Facebook has 350 Million Members.

Youtube visitors are viewing 13 Billion Videos a month.

Linkedin has over 15 Million Business people networking.

Twitter is growing at over 40% a month.

Digg and Delicious are driving millions of visitors to websites every month.

Thank you Sasha!

Seventh, email from Sierra Club.org –

Daily Ray of Hope: Your images and inspirational words from the Sierra Club.

I get an inspiring quote from Sierra Club. Thank you, Sierra Club!

Eighth, Newsletter from PoemHunter.com:

I get daily an interesting poem from them. Today I got a poem, “Sea Fever” by John Masefield. I felt Priya may like it and hence forwarded it to her. Thank you, PoemHunter.com.

Ninth, Google Alert for Books:

I set up an Alert for Books in Google and hence I get from them daily alerting me about books. Thank you, Google!

Tenth, mail from TED:

As a member of the TED Global Community, I receive mails from them about updates. Today’s mail is about TEDMED, a new partnership of TED. This is the beginning of TED's reach into the vital realm of medicine and wellness. The first talk is by David Blaine, How I held my breath for 17 min. Thank you, TED!

Eleventh, Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor, the newsletter from American Public Media.org (newsletter@americanpublicmedia.org): Today’s mail has a poem, “Hitchhiker” by Galway Kinnell (audio version of the poem is also available!) and intimation about the Birthdays of filmmaker Federico Fellini and novelist Susan Vreeland. It also provides links to know more about these two. Thank you, American Public Media!

Still there were some mails. But I had to stop as I had other pressing duties.

After bath and breakfast, posted:

a picture and a quote in my blog, SURiMOUNT (http://surimount.blogspot.com/)a devotional song about The Holy Ash and a Quote, both in Tamil in my Tamil blog, SURIYODAYAM TAMIL (http://suriyodayamtamil.blogspot.com/).About Library, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom in my blog, IDEAL EDUCATION (http://surimounteducation.blogspot.com/) (under the caption, Blog of the day. Actually the first part of this journal reproduced as a separate post there).

10 am to 12 noon – Power Cut.

Read a chapter each from ‘Thousand Windows” by Sathguru Jaggi Vasudev and “Lessons from Experience” by Sutha Murty of Infosys Foundation (both in Tamil).

Then went to Bank to withdraw some money from ATM and to BSNL Office to pay the Telephone bill. Got some periodicals from the Bus Stand Bookstall.

Watched TV Programs.

After lunch, some rest.

Downloaded books from World Public Library Association of which I am a paid member, mostly pertaining to literature and education.

Afternoon, nap.

Finished the journal of the day and now you have it here in my blog, SURiMOUNT.

Post Script:

After posting, I watched the video from TEDMED mentioned above. Wow! What a wonderful experience! I sat glued to the monitor for 20 minutes watching the video. I am sure you would also enjoy it. Here is the link:http://www.ted.com/talks/david_blaine_how_i_held_my_breath_for_17_min.html

Google Monthly Calendar

My Western Player

Hindi 24 Hours FM Radio

Music Sites

About Me

This is what people close say about me: “Misfit, Dreamer, Impractical, Champion of lost causes, Always Wrong” etc. etc. Maybe they are right, maybe not. What do I think of myself? I am trying to find out.